A Forgotten Tragedy: The S.S. Sultana

On this day in 1865, the worst maritime disaster in US history occurred. It had nothing to do with the Titanic. The Titanic was a British cruise ship that sank on April 14, 1912, resulting in the death of approximately 1517 people. The loss of the Titanic was a tragedy, but it is far from the worst maritime disaster. The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff on January 30, 1944 is the worst single ship maritime disaster with approximately 9400 deaths. Few people have heard of the Wilhelm Gustloff, while the whole world knows the Titanic. There is a certain romance and grandeur that has long been associated with the Titanic. The first feature movie about the Titanic was made by order of Joseph Goebbels to demonstrate the greed and corruption of capitalist nations such as Britain and the United States. The majority of movies about the Titanic focus on the contrast between the immense luxury of the ship with its tragic demise. There were many celebrities aboard the Titanic and that also captured the attention of the public.

The worse US maritime disaster, though, is known only to historians. In fact, even when the tragedy occurred it garnered little attention from the press. In April 1865 the Civil War was coming to an end. Lee had surrendered, but Lincoln had been assassinated. There were still Confederate armies that had not surrendered and Union troops were still deployed in the field. However, the Eastern theaters were winding down and many Union troops were being sent home. There were also several thousands of liberated prisoners of war that were being sent home. The primary method of returning these men to the North was up the Mississippi River. Steamboats were chartered by the US government to ferry men from New Orleans, Vicksburg, Memphis, and other Southern cities north to Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. This became a lucrative business for the owners of ships on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. The owners of these vessels were paid according to the number of men ferried by their vessels and they wanted to make as much money as possible. To that end they packed their vessels with Union troops as well as with family members that were escorting the troops home.

One ship, the S.S. Sultana, was certified for a maximum capacity of 376 passengers. On April 24, 1865, she left Vicksburg with over 2100 men aboard. Most of the men were former prisoners of war and many were from the notorious Andersonville Prison Camp. They were tired and weak, but they wanted to get home. They were willing to endure the cramped quarters in order to hasten their journey home. After stopping at Memphis on April 26 to unload her cargo of sugar, the Sultana left port at midnight heading north.

At 2:00 AM, seven miles north of Memphis, Tennessee, one of the boilers on the Sultana exploded. The initial explosion was followed by two more boilers exploding. Later investigations determined that the strain of carrying an over loaded vessel against strong currents overwhelmed substandard boilers. The explosion instantly killed hundreds and hundreds were also thrown through the air. Survivors had to deal with clouds of steam, a raging fire, and an unforgiving river. The Mississippi River was swollen due to spring rains and even a strong man could not withstand the merciless currents. About 700 survivors were taken to Memphis, but around 500 died due to burns and hypothermia. The official death toll for the disaster is that 1,800. For several months bodies washed up all along the shores of the Mississippi River. It was a tragic end for many soldiers that had survived the horror of war.

The sinking of the Sultana is the worst maritime disaster in US history. However, no one was ever held accountable for the disaster. The crew of the ship were killed in the disaster. The US Army conducted inquiries, but even those found guilty of bribery or negligence were later acquitted. The story was reported in the media, but it was not the main headline. On April 26, John Wilkes Booth had been found and killed by Union troops. The focus of the nation was still on the assassination of Lincoln and the manhunt for the conspirators. Today the Sultana is at best a footnote in history books.

The story of the S.S. Sultana is certainly a cautionary tale. It is a story of greed overwhelming common sense. It also demonstrates the strange nature of history in that such a substantial event can be largely forgotten by the public.

The Wrong Side of Hermeneutics

A common rhetorical weapon used today is to claim that a position is "on the wrong side of history." For example, if a Conservative Evangelical asserts that a particular act or belief is counter to the Bible, opponents will claim that he is on the wrong side of history. The model for this claim is that Conservative Evangelicals formerly supported slavery and segregation. Those positions are rejected today by almost everyone and Conservatives are frequently apologizing for the errant positions of their ancestors. But this model is actual deficient and takes a myopic approach to history.
First, only historians can assess when a position is on the wrong side of history. History is a study of past events, people, and concepts. By definition, it is impossible to assess current events as though they were history. Historians are not neutral arbiters of the past, but they do have access to the wider range of events that include the conclusion, impact, and legacy of events. During the 18th and 19th Centuries, colonialism seemed a prudent and beneficial concept to the major world powers. Historians have argued that proponents of colonialism were on the wrong side of history because they see the record of destruction and disaster created by colonialism.
Second, many modern pundits seem to regard the church's position on slavery and segregation to be uniform. The church was far from uniform on such matters. The church drove the abolitionist movement in Great Britain and the United States. Early in church history many believers began to realize that Christianity and slavery were in opposition. How can one both enslave and love one's neighbor? Christian leaders from Patrick to John Newton to John Woolman raised their voices against slavery.
There were Christians who argued that the Bible justified slavery. There were also humanists that argued science justified slavery. Their main concern was to justify slavery because their culture accepted it. In other words, it was neither the Bible nor science that drove their position, but it was their culture that dominated their view.
Hermeneutics is the art and science of interpretation. Good practitioners of Biblical Hermeneutics seek to interpret the Bible without being influenced by their cultural biases. The goal is to determine the original intent and point of the Biblical authors and communicate those truths to their contemporaries. Supporters of slavery in the antebellum South failed to understand the differences between the chattel slavery of their day and the slavery of the Greco-Roman world. Further, they failed to see how the New Testament undermined that slavery. They were not on the wrong side of history; they were on the wrong side of hermeneutics. They saw the Bible through the filter of their culture.
The danger remains for us today. When we read the Bible through the filter of our culture, we will also be on the wrong side of hermeneutics. Any interpretation of the Bible that does not challenge culture is suspect. Our task as believers is not to force the Bible to match the current culture, but to allow the truth to challenge and confront the sins of our culture. My concern has nothing to do with how history will judge my beliefs, but if my hermeneutic is consistent and faithful to the God that gave us the Bible.